Lei Jun denies the acquisition of Tencent QQ and was asked by Ali to buy shares: he wanted to acquire NetEase for 10 million but was rejected by Ding Lei
It was reported on August 11 that at the 2022 Lei Jun annual speech, Xiaomi Chairman Lei Jun summarized and analyzed his “perception of crossing the trough of life” and “Xiaomi’s entrepreneurial thinking”. Among them, Lei Jun also responded to events such as “acquiring Tencent QQ” and “being asked to buy shares by Alibaba” on the Internet. Lei Jun said that there were previous rumors that Ma Huateng had planned to sell QQ to him, and Ma Yun had asked him for investment when he started his business and was rejected. In this regard, Lei Jun clarified that both events were rumors, and neither Ma Huateng nor Ma Yun contacted him.
In addition, Lei Jun revealed that only NetEase had really talked about the acquisition with him. At that time, NetEase had only been established for one year and was a hosting station for personal websites. He offered 10 million yuan to acquire it, but Ding Lei refused. Then NetEase raised $10 million at a valuation of 500 million, which shocked him.
Lei Jun said that the company must keep 18 months of salary on the account: if the sky falls, it is not allowed to move
On August 11, Lei Jun, the founder, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi Group, posted a video on his personal Weibo saying that his company must set aside cash that can pay 18 months’ salary in his company’s account. “Once the company couldn’t pay wages, I was so anxious that I couldn’t sleep for many nights. So later, I had to leave a sum of cash in the company’s account, even if the sky fell, I wouldn’t move it, just to make sure I could pay 18 monthly salary.”
On the question of whether you have regretted it, Lei Jun said in the video that it must be false to say that he has no regrets. Everyone remembers the pig in the air outlet. In fact, this sentence is a very painful realization after passing by the air outlet countless times. Lei Jun said that if he did it again, he would choose the original path.
Domestic News
Didi and Ideal’s joint venture Judian Mobility file for bankruptcy, car-building projects have stalled
On August 11, according to court documents submitted to the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court, a joint venture between Didi Global and Ideal Auto called Beijing Judian Mobility Technology has filed for bankruptcy protection, indicating that the two parties are making electric vehicles. The four-year partnership has ended. Didi Global and Li Auto have yet to comment on the bankruptcy filing or any future plans.
In February this year, Judian Travel was listed as the person subject to execution by the People’s Court of Chaoyang District, Beijing, with an execution target of 13.8596 million yuan. Judian Chuxing is a subsidiary jointly established by Didi and Ideal. It was established in 2018. The two parties jointly invested RMB 400 million. According to the investment ratio, Didi holds 51% of the shares and Ideal holds 49%. Yang Jun, vice president of Didi Chuxing, serves as the chairman and legal person of Judian, and Shen Yanan, co-founder and president of Ideal Auto, serves as CEO. Since then, the two parties have jointly developed a pure electric MPV. It is worth noting that this car was originally planned to be mass-produced in early 2020, but since neither party continued to invest additionally, it has been in a stagnant state.
In April 2020, Li Xiang, founder of Ideal Auto, and Cheng Wei, founder of Didi, decided to split Judian and Ideal into an independent OEM plus travel company, and introduce new strategic shareholders. Some people in the industry speculate that one of the reasons why the cooperation project between Ideal and Didi is facing stagnation is that Didi’s rival Meituan has become the largest institutional shareholder of Ideal.
Xiaopeng Motors responded that the P7 assisted driving had an overhead collision and killed a person. Traffic police: temporarily unable to confirm the assisted driving function
It was reported on August 11 that a video of a Xiaopeng P7 hitting a man to death on the Ningbo Viaduct in Zhejiang on August 10 attracted attention. According to the description of the owner of the online transmission, the vehicle turned on the LCC 2.5 assisted driving mode when the accident occurred, and hit a parked vehicle at a speed of 80. The owner said, “The assisted driving is completely unrecognized. After I hit it, I realized that it was too late.” Xiaopeng Motors responded that we are saddened and regretted for the victims who passed away in this accident. At present, the traffic police department has filed a case and the store has gone to the scene for the first time to assist in the handling. We will fully cooperate with the relevant departments to investigate the accident, continue to follow up the follow-up results, and assist customers in handling follow-up related matters. Subsequently, the traffic police department in charge of the case said that the accident is currently under preliminary investigation, whether it was caused by the LCC auxiliary function transmitted on the Internet, it said that it could not be confirmed for the time being. Lei Jun: Xiaomi’s goal of autonomous driving is to enter the first camp in 2024. On August 11, Lei Jun revealed in his 2022 annual public speech that Xiaomi’s car building is currently progressing smoothly, and it can even be said to exceed expectations. At present, road tests are being carried out all over the country, and 140 test vehicles are planned for the first phase, which will be tested across the country one after another. Lei Jun said that Xiaomi’s goal of autonomous driving is to enter the first camp in the industry in 2024. In his view, autonomous driving is the key to the success of smart electric vehicles. Lei Jun further pointed out that the first phase of Xiaomi’s self-driving project has invested 3.3 billion yuan in research and development, and the size of the exclusive team has exceeded 500, and it is expected to exceed 600 by the end of the year; and cooperate with artificial intelligence laboratory, Xiaoai team, mobile phone cameras, etc. (Leifeng Network)
SMIC’s second-quarter net profit fell 25%, CEO Zhao Haijun and former Arm president Tudor Brown resigned as executive directors
On the evening of August 11, SMIC disclosed its second-quarter results. Sales revenue in the second quarter was $1.903 billion, an increase of 3.3% from $1.84 billion in the first quarter of 2022, and a 41.6% increase from $1.34 billion in the second quarter of 2021. Gross profit in the second quarter was US$750 million, the same as in the first quarter of this year, and an increase of 85.3% compared to US$405 million in the second quarter of 2021. Gross profit margin in the second quarter of 2022 was 39.4%, compared to 40.7% in the first quarter of 2022 and 30.1% in the second quarter of 2021. During the period, the net profit attributable to owners of the company was approximately US$514 million, compared with approximately US$688 million in the same period last year, a year-on-year decrease of 25.2%.
SMIC also disclosed the resignation of two directors. The announcement shows that in order to focus on fulfilling his responsibilities as the co-CEO of the company, Zhao Haijun resigned as an executive director of the company, effective from August 11, 2022. Zhao Haijun will continue to serve as the Co-CEO of the Company after his resignation from the above-mentioned positions. In addition, William Tudor Brown, former president of Arm and independent non-executive director of SMIC, resigned as the company’s independent non-executive director, chairman of the compensation committee of the board, member of the audit committee, member of the nomination committee and member of the strategy committee, effective August 11, 2022. At the same time, SMIC appointed Academician Wu Hanming as the Company’s first-class independent non-executive director, a member of the Nomination Committee of the Board of Directors and a member of the Strategy Committee, effective from August 11, 2022.
CNKI Vice President responded to the issue of equity composition: CNKI is a 100% state-owned holding company
In response to the previous awareness of netizens about its shareholding composition, Xiao Hong, deputy general manager of CNKI, responded that at present, CNKI is a 100% state-owned holding company, and has “two companies and one agency”, namely “China Academic Journal (CD-ROM)” “Electronic Magazines Co., Ltd., Tongfang Knowledge Network Digital Publishing Technology Co., Ltd., Tongfang Knowledge Network (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd.
Xiao Hong introduced that at present, CNKI has a total number of about 4,300 people, 30% of which have a master’s degree or above, and 42% of which are products and R&D. The 2021 financial report shows that Zhiwang’s annual revenue is 1.289 billion yuan, with a gross profit margin of 53.35%. Xiao Hong disclosed that, in fact, in 2021, CNKI’s net profit will be 15%. In 2021, Tongfang (HowNet) will pay 156 million copyright fees, mainly to journals, academic papers, etc. He believes that CNKI faces a huge number of journal authors, involving a total of 42 million people. We have previously used journals as a hub and have been collectively sublicensing. (Guangming Daily)
Gome responds to its multi-platform layoffs and salary cuts: it will implement layoffs without ruling out operational difficulties
According to The Paper, a number of employees and former employees of Gome’s e-commerce platform Gome True Happiness E-Commerce Co., Ltd. recently said that the company has started layoffs since April this year, and has ushered in a new round of layoffs since August, at least for this year’s The third wave, and in recent months, the company has also delayed the payment of wages.
In this regard, the relevant person in charge of Gome Group responded that Gome Retail did not owe wages or social security provident funds, but it did not rule out that it plans to implement a staff reduction plan due to operational difficulties.
Xiaopeng Motors was fined 3,000 yuan for failing to change the terms of the agreement
According to news on August 11, recently, Suzhou Xiaopeng Automobile Sales and Service Co., Ltd. was fined 3,000 yuan by the Suzhou High-tech Zone (Huqiu District) Market Supervision Bureau for violating consumer rights protection management regulations. The reason for the penalty shows that the company used the purchase agreement uniformly formulated by Guangzhou Xiaopeng Headquarters and embedded in the official app of Xiaopeng Motors in the process of selling cars.
The agreement states that “if the two parties do not reach an agreement to resolve such disputes, either party has the right to submit the disputes to the Guangzhou Arbitration Commission for arbitration”. Sign a purchase agreement, the terms of the above agreement cannot be changed.
Dingdong Maicai’s Q2 revenue increased by 42.8% year-on-year, with a cash balance of 6.06 billion yuan on August 11
In the evening news, Dingdong Maicai’s second-quarter financial report showed that its total revenue was 6.6344 billion yuan, an increase of 42.8% compared with 4.446 billion yuan in the same period in 2021. The net loss was 34.5 million yuan, compared with a net loss of 1,937.4 million yuan in the same period in 2021. Not in accordance with the US General Accounting Principles (Non-GAAP), the net profit was 20.6 million yuan, and the net loss in the same period in 2021 was 1.7285 billion yuan. After the problems related to the daily excellent fresh food broke out, Yu Le, CSO of Dingdong Maicai, said: “At present, Dingdong’s loss and cash flow will be greatly optimized compared with the same period last year. As of Q2, the cash balance is 6.06 billion yuan, and short-term bank loans It has increased to 890 million RMB. The money we need is not much, but the balance on the account is still quite large.” Midea Group: The company’s computer was attacked, denying the rumors of extortion. On the evening of August 11, the Midea Group posted on Weibo. Posted in response to the rumor that “Midea’s factory computers were hacked and extorted tens of millions of dollars”. Midea replied that on the 11th, the group was attacked by a new type of network virus, and a few employees’ computers were infected. According to an internal employee of Midea, they did receive a notice from the department that they should not turn on the computer. As for whether the computer was attacked or extorted, the employee did not know.
international News
LinkedIn lays off global event marketing team, employees can apply for new roles
On August 12, it was reported that Microsoft had laid off employees earlier this week, and now its LinkedIn (LinkedIn) will also lay off the global event marketing team.
A LinkedIn spokesperson wouldn’t say how many people were affected, other than to say the entire event marketing team was hit. Affected employees can apply for positions on the newly formed internal team. Chuck Jones, a senior event marketing manager on the global event marketing team, posted on Wednesday that his entire team had been laid off.
Apple doesn’t expect total iPhone production to fall to 220 million units in 2022
On August 12, Apple believes that iPhone sales will not decline in 2022 as the entire smartphone market is decelerating. Apple still believes iPhone demand will be strong, and it asked suppliers to make 90 million iPhone 14 models, about the same as it expected for the iPhone 13 models a year earlier.
Before 2021, when the new iPhone is launched, Apple will manufacture about 75 million units, and it will increase to 90 million units in 2021, because the sales of various types of iPhone 13 mobile phones are hot, and Apple will maintain this goal in 2022.
From the current forecast, the iPhone 14 will not change much. The high-end iPhone 14 Pro will adopt a notch-less design, the camera will be upgraded to 48 million pixels, equipped with an A16 processor and an Always-On display. The starting price of the iPhone 14 Pro should be higher than the iPhone 13 Pro. Apple executives said at the second-quarter earnings conference that revenue growth is expected to accelerate in September, and supply chain tensions will ease from the June quarter. (Source: Sina Technology)
Another cryptocurrency trading platform suspended trading: executives were subpoenaed, some funds were frozen
On August 12, according to media reports, the cryptocurrency trading platform Hotbit announced the suspension of trading, withdrawal and recharge functions, and the specific recovery time cannot be determined at present. Multiple Hotbit executives have been subpoenaed by law enforcement since the end of July and are assisting in the investigation. In addition, law enforcement froze some of Hotbit’s funds, making Hotbit unable to function properly.
Hotbit said the suspension came after a former executive who left in April was involved in a project last year that law enforcement now believes allegedly violated criminal law. Hotbit said the company and the rest of the company’s management were not involved in the project and had no knowledge of the illegal information involved in the project. All users’ assets are safe on Hotbit and will resume normal services as soon as the assets are unfrozen.
During the suspension of service, Hotbit will handle the user’s assets as follows: Before the service is resumed, the user’s unexecuted pending orders will be cancelled to prevent losses from holding positions. Before 8:00 p.m. The investment product income will be distributed normally, and the user compensation plan will be announced when the website is restored. (Source: The Paper)
Meta test safe storage function: can back up Messenger end-to-end encrypted data
On August 12, according to reports, Facebook parent company Meta announced that it would test a new secure storage feature for backing up users’ “end-to-end” encrypted chat data on Messenger.
“End-to-end” encryption means that only the sender and the designated receiver can access the data, and no other person, hacker, or any third party can access the encrypted data on the server. And Meta’s new secure storage feature will allow users to back up “end-to-end” encrypted Messenger conversations so users can restore chat history on new devices. Meta also cannot access these backup data. Users can create PINs, generate codes, or use third-party cloud services to restore their chat messages.
The move comes amid protests from Meta for providing Messenger data to police. Facebook recently handed over the Messenger chats of a teenage female user to Nebraska police as part of an investigation into illegal abortions, sparking outcry on Twitter. In response, Meta said the new secure storage feature has been in development for some time, and the release at this time has nothing to do with the Nebraska case.
U.S. FTC to develop expanded online privacy protections
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is expected to begin formulating federal rules to expand online privacy protections as soon as Thursday, local time, people familiar with the matter said. The rules, if passed, could impose significant new responsibilities on businesses that process consumer data, including potentially prohibiting the collection of certain types of data.
The move to create the new rules is the latest sign of the move by the five-member FTC to move more aggressively under its chairman Lina Khan, the report said. Khan, a Democrat, is often an outspoken public critic of big business, especially Big Tech. (Source: Interface News)
U.S. solar development setback
On August 12, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released a report saying that in the first half of this year, the newly installed solar photovoltaic power generation capacity of U.S. power plants was less than half of the plan. U.S. developers had planned to install 17.8 gigawatts of utility-scale solar capacity in 2022, but only added 4.2 gigawatts of solar capacity in the first half of the year, the report showed.
According to preliminary data, there were delays of up to 4.4 GW of solar installations per month on average from January to June this year, compared with an average of 2.6 GW per month in the same period last year. Factors that could cause delays include supply chain constraints, labor shortages and component prices, the EIA noted.
In fact, the American Clean Energy Association (ACP), an industry group, released a report at the end of last month saying that new renewable energy in the United States fell to the lowest level in nearly three years in the second quarter due to trade disputes, uncertain federal policies and supply chain chaos. According to the report, new clean energy additions in the U.S. fell by 55% in the second quarter compared to the same period in 2021, the lowest quarter of clean energy new capacity additions in the country since the third quarter of 2019. Among them, solar deployment decreased by 53% compared with the same period last year, and onshore wind decreased by 78%.
The Biden administration said in July that it would spend $56 million on domestic solar-product manufacturing projects to wean its clean energy industry from reliance on foreign-made products.
South Korea’s tech exports fall for first time in two years as global demand cools
On August 11, according to foreign media reports, data just released by the South Korean Ministry of Trade showed that after a 6.8% increase in June, the export of information and communication products fell by 0.7% compared with the same period last year, the first decline in more than two years.
Tech products account for nearly one-third of South Korea’s overseas exports. South Korea’s smartphone sales fell 29.2 percent year-on-year in July, exports of computers and auxiliary equipment fell 21.9 percent, and exports of screen monitors fell 4.7 percent. Compared with the same period last year, China’s imports of technology equipment from South Korea decreased by 8.2%. South Korea’s technology exports to the United States also fell by 9.2%, while exports to the European Union increased by 12.9%.
Some experts pointed out that the epidemic has caused a surge in consumer demand for computers and communication equipment. However, with the relaxation of quarantine restrictions in various places, consumers have switched to the service industry and related industries.
Siri: “South Korea is Japanese territory”, angering Korean netizens
On August 11, according to foreign media reports, VANK protested a few days ago that Apple’s intelligent voice assistant Siri said when introducing South Korea, “In modern history, South Korea refers to the territory of the Japanese Empire on the Korean Peninsula.” Apple quickly revised the relevant wording after learning about it.
The media pointed out that in September last year, some netizens revised the “Korea” entry in Wikipedia to add the expression “Japanese Empire Territory”. Later, other netizens deleted this content. The report believes that this time Apple is suspected to have a problem and grabbed the previous part of the “Japanese Empire Territory”.
According to public information, “VANK” is the abbreviation of Voluntary Agency Network of Korea, a non-governmental organization organized by Korean netizens. Previously, Pengci China was involved in activities such as asking Google to change “Chinese New Year” (Chinese New Year) to “Lunar New Year” (Lunar New Year), and protesting Baidu Baike’s labeling of pickles as originating in China.
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